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By: Yael Grauer, MMATorch Guest Contributor
Longtime fans of women's MMA were thrilled to see "Thug" Rose Namajunas, known for her crazy kicks and slick submissions, picked to take on Australian Alex "Astro Girl" Chambers in this episode.
However, before we get to that matchup, we get another peak inside the TUF house, with some fighters complaining about cliques, high school-style drama, and other petty shenanigans. There's also a group of ladies calling themselves the "Skrapettes," while calling the gals sitting out (Heather Clark and Lisa Ellis) "Chumpettes." Very classy. Perhaps the prolonged losing streak has gotten to them?
Next we get to see Namajunas training with the legendary Ice Cream Kron (Gracie). She looks slick in training, but the pressure seems to have gotten to her, and Kron later consoles her when he finds her bawling.
Alex Chambers talks a bit about her history, and how hard it was to be accepted as a fighter in Australia. She has a lot of respect for Namajunas, but seems quite confident.
Anthony Pettis is trying to figure out how to split up the team to train for quarterfinals. The fighters are getting a bit territorial, so it should be interesting to see how it plays out.
Heather Clarke announces that she's torn her entire ACL, so her teammates who thought she was faking it are forced to eat crow. Even Angela Magana apologizes, as well as Bec Hyatt and Namajunas.
Rose then talks about how she was abused as a child, which is heartbreaking, but soon we're back in the gym to see her work her slick submissions with Nate Diaz.
Megan Rapinoe and Sydney Leroux from the U.S. national women's soccer team come to visit, having a nice conversation with the fighters and learning some new moves.
Then, it's fight time.
Alex Chambers and Rose Namajunas come into the cage, quickly jockeying for position in the clinch. Namajunas works for a takedown, but settles for a combination, stalking Chambers inside the cage. Namajunas takes the fight to the ground. Chambers tries to get up but is slammed down, though she manages to get to her feet in the next attempt. The two trade knees, and Namajunas follows up with a slick push kick, then takes the fight to the ground after Chambers takes a sloppy shot. It's not long before Namajunas takes Chambers' back and sinks in a rear-naked choke for the win.
Pettis tries to claim that this victory was a mental one, but Namajunas certainly looked more versatile and conditioned than any other TUF fighter we've seen this season.
Next episode, we see Tecia "Tiny Tornado" Torres take on "Rowdy" Bec Hyatt.
Yael Grauer is a freelance writer, you can find more of her at yaelwrites.com/blog
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